This Is How Hard It Is for Women in the Military to Get Access to Birth Control

Astronauts and members of the military have a lot in common. They are both helping their country, they are often sent to unfamiliar places and, for the ones who are able to get pregnant, they have to figure out the best way to avoid it.

Many studies have shown that there’s varying access to birth control for women in the military, some reporting that women have a very hard time accessing their preferred form of birth control when they are deployed. One study even shows that one-third of servicewomen didn’t have access to their preferred birth control method for deployment.

The nonprofit pharmaceutical company Medicines360 is out to change this, Vox reports, by offering huge discounts on IUDs to the military. Medicines360 will now offer the IUD Liletta, which the company manufactures, to military clinics for $55, a fraction of the usual $625 price, in order to increase access to this long-lasting birth control option for women in the military.

Doctors agree that IUDs are the best birth control method, especially for long-term use. It’s the method most healthcare providers use for themselves, and the one they find the most reliable.

Since 12% of servicewomen face unplanned pregnancies each year, it makes sense that the military might have some interest in increasing access to this doctor-approved, long-term birth control. But, Vox reports that some military treatment centers don’t stock IUDs, and others perpetuate the myth that a woman must have already given birth in order to have an IUD.

Medicines360 is hoping cheaper IUDs will increase access and make it more likely that the military will dole them out.

"One of the big barriers to access is the high up-front cost," Jessica Grossman, CEO of Medicines360 told Vox. "We started with the sole purpose of developing a low-cost but high-quality IUD."

The company put Liletta on the market in 2015, selling to both private and public clinics. The public clinics got a heavy discount, paying only $50 for the $625 IUD. This is where the military discount idea came from.

"We were finding that military treatment facilities, like public health clinics, also have difficulty stocking IUDs given their costs," Grossman said. "We wanted to provide this to women who are serving."

Now, the challenge is getting the military to bite. The Liletta deal isn’t a partnership with the military, according to Vox, but an opportunity available to military clinics. The clinics still have to want to offer the birth control method.

Offering IUDs might offer another benefit to women in the military. It might get rid of their periods, meaning they won’t have to worry about changing their tampons while on the front lines. Nobody’s got time for that.